A True San Franciscan

Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was not merely a rock band but a subculture, the lasting representative of the San Francisco music renaissance of the 1960s as well as the Haight-Ashbury “hippie” subculture of that era.

Although each member of the band contributed to its musical and social structure, Jerry Garcia had perhaps the largest influence, and his contribution was directly connected to his San Francisco upbringing. From his labor organizer/socialist and free-love advocating grandmother to the Beat generation he encountered at what is now the San Francisco Art Institute, Garcia brought a distinctively San Francisco set of values to his life and the Dead.

Dennis McNally, the band’s long-time publicist and authorized biographer (A Long Strange Trip/The Inside History of the Grateful Dead) will talk about those values from his perspective as a trained historian as well as a member of the band’s staff.